Another argument in favor of a stage has been drawn from the phrases ἐπὶ τῆς σκηνῆς and ἀπὸ τῆς σκηνῆς, which occur in two fourth-century authors, Aristotle and Demosthenes.[189] It has been claimed that ἐπί “naturally means ‘on’ and implies elevation” and that σκηνή means “stage.” If this exegesis were correct, there could be no doubt as to the presence of a stage in the fourth-century theater; but as a matter of fact neither claim is warranted. Everyone would concede that the primary, untechnical meaning of σκηνή is “hut” or “tent,” and that the word was applied to the scene-building, which was erected back of the orchestra and which came to be increasingly substantial in construction. Though the term acquired a variety of other theatrical meanings, I agree with those who maintain that at no period did it mean “stage” in classical Greek. It is manifestly impossible to discuss the matter here, but I shall presently have occasion to show that even in Pollux, who lived in the second century A.D., it had not gained this meaning (see p. 98, below). If σκηνή does not mean “stage,” it is unnecessary to argue that ἐπί does not mean “on,” for actors could speak from the porch or from between the columns of the proscenium, and so could be said to speak “from the scene-building” (ἀπὸ τῆς σκηνῆς) or to be standing “on the scene-building” (ἐπὶ τῆς σκηνῆς) without being “on top of the scene-building.” Just so the teachings of the Stoic philosophers are referred to as οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς στοᾶς λόγοι[190] without any implication that the Stoics spoke from a platform, let alone from the top of the stoa. Nevertheless, it is a fact that ἐπί does not always mean “on.” For example, Diodorus and Plutarch both employ ἐπὶ σκηνῆς in a non-technical sense with reference to an occurrence “before” or “at the quarters” of a commander. And Lucian’s metamorphosed ass was mortified at being shown to be a thief and glutton “before his master” (ἐπὶ τοῦ δεσπότου)[191]—surely there was no superposition there. Such passages, however, come from later Greek, when the prepositions were less clear-cut in meaning, and it is better, as Professor Gildersleeve has suggested[192], to “repose quietly on the phraseological use of ἐπί; ‘on the playhouse side’ is all the Dörpfeld theory demands.”